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☆ TikTok is about to crash Google and Microsoft's search ad wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

TikTok search ads have been in beta testing for almost a year on an invite-only basis. One agency source predicts TikTok search ads will become more widely available by Q3. As Google and Microsoft duke it out over the future leadership of artificial intelligence-powered search, TikTok is quietly preparing a big search advertising play of its own. These moves, as well as recent TikTok job posts looking for search ads engineers to develop a "large-scale ads system," indicate a wider rollout of TikTok's search ad product. A TikTok spokesperson said the details it could share about TikTok search ads were limited during its initial testing phase.

☆ Asia stocks rally, bonds tense for U.S. rate tests
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Wayne Cole | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Japan's Nikkei (.N225) climbed 1.0% to a three-month top, while South Korean stocks (.KS11) added 0.6% helped by a softer reading on inflation. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.1% and Nasdaq futures 0.2%, after rallying on Friday as bond yields eased back a little. Futures imply a 72% chance the Fed will go by 25 basis points at its meeting on March 22. The BOJ jolted markets in December when it unexpectedly widened the allowed trading band for 10-year bond yields to between -50 and +50 basis points. Friday's pullback in bond yields helped gold recover some ground and it was trading at $1,855 an ounce .

☆ Dollar's renewed strength temporary, weakness ahead, FX analysts say: Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Hari Kishan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

While analysts have been predicting a weaker dollar 12 months out for over five years, their predictions only came true in 2020 when the currency weakened more than 6.5%. There was also no clear consensus among analysts in the poll over dollar positioning, which turned net short dollar last November. Among the remaining 18, a dozen forecast a reversal to net long positions and six predicted an increase in net short positions. Even the British pound , which dropped more than 10% last year, was expected to claw back around half of those losses in 12 months. Sterling was predicted to rise from its latest level of $1.19 to $1.22, $1.23 and $1.26 in the next three, six and 12 months, respectively.

☆ Salesforce: A New Dawn. CEO Marc Benioff is pivoting the cloud company from family to profitability.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and I'm not just talking about the Selena/Hailey 'mean girls' saga — I'm fascinated by the Salesforce spectacle. CEO Marc Benioff recently oversaw the departure of two leading candidates to inherit the Salesforce throne. Now, under their careful watch, Benioff needs to guide the company through a cost-cutting period — something he's never done before. This is quite the turn, considering he was still emphasizing Ohana after laying off 10% of the company in January. CEO Marc Benioff announced on Wednesday that the company is starting a "new day."

The case for falling rentSomething strange is happening in the apartment market. More than 971,000 apartment units were under construction across the US at the end of 2022, the second-largest number on record. There's only so much people are willing to pay,'" said Jon Leckie, a researcher for Rent, a platform that helps landlords market their properties. For now, though, the wave of supply that's already underway should keep rents in check over the next couple of years. Now, as landlords shift their focus from jacking up rents to filling up units, renters can once again look ahead to better days.

☆ China’s Newest Weapon to Nab Western Technology—Its Courts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Stu Woo | Daniel Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The growing conflict between China and the U.S. extends from computer-chip factories to a suspected spy balloon over American skies. Running through it all is a struggle for technological superiority. China has striven for years to develop cutting-edge technologies, in part through heavy spending on research. Now, according to Western officials and executives, it also has mobilized its legal system to pry technology from other nations.

While law firms sometimes negotiate fixed fees on transactions, market participants said such deals would be unlikely on transactions that faced the amount of legal uncertainty of Rogers-Shaw. The Rogers-Shaw deal is expected to be the tenth-largest deal in Canadian history since 1995, according to data from Dealogic. Law firms Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb represented Rogers, while Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg and Wachtell are lawyers for Shaw. None of the law firms responded to Reuters queries on the legal fee. Rogers and Shaw on Friday extended the closing deadline for the fourth time to March 31.

☆ Spanish police nab art thieves, recover 100-year old Dali drawings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A Mosso d'Esquadra police officer handles a recovered charcoal drawing by Spanish artist Salvador Dali that had been stolen in Barcelona, Spain, in this handout photo released on February 17, 2023. Mossos d'Esquadra/Handout via REUTERSBARCELONA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Spanish police have recovered two 100-year-old drawings by surrealist painter Salvador Dali that were stolen last year in a burglary in Barcelona. They also seized other art works including graphic works by fellow Spanish artist Joan Miro, luxury watches and valuable coins and banknotes. The art works - two dark rural sceneries drawn on brown paper - were authenticated by the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation, which holds the rights on the late painter's works, police said. The three brothers are alleged by Catalan police to have specifically targeted homes in the Barcelona region with art works and collections of coins and other antiques.

☆ National Australia Bank cash profit jumps on loan growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Sameer Manekar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies Q1 cash profit up 19%, beats estimatesLoan growth, high interest rates boost profitNet interest margin rises 12 bpsFeb 16 (Reuters) - National Australia Bank (NAB.AX) said on Thursday its first-quarter cash profit jumped 19%, helped by a rise in lending deposits for the country's second-largest bank. "The higher interest rate environment, resulting from central bank actions to curb inflation, has benefited our revenue this period," Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan said. However, speaking of higher interest rates, McEwan said it was "also causing economic growth and house prices to soften, and loan repayments to increase". The country's second-largest lender posted cash earnings of A$2.15 billion ($1.48 billion) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with A$1.80 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected cash earnings of $2.01 billion, according to Visible Alpha consensus.

☆ M&Ms Super Bowl commercial: How ads have become weeks-long campaigns
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The Super Bowl commercial, billed as the conclusion to weeks-long drama surrounding the status of the “spokescandies,” left some viewers scratching their heads. But if you weren’t paying attention, the final commercial might be a head scratcher -— one risk a brand takes when it uses a weeks-long campaign ahead of its Super Bowl commercial. In a change for the decades-old Super Bowl ad wars, it’s actually become a commonplace strategy to use social media to tease, preview and create buzz ahead of their Super Bowl commercials. Companies spend millions just for a Super Bowl ad slot — reportedly over $7 million for some 30-second spots — before investing into the commercials themselves. Dance contests and bettingDespite the high cost of a Super Bowl commercial, companies are eager to nab a spot.

☆ Oil rises for 4th day as supply disruptions, China demand supports
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Freight wagons carrying oil and fuel at a petroleum products terminal in Riga, Latvia, on Feb. 2, 2023. Oil edged up in early trade on Thursday, extending gains for a fourth consecutive day, as crude loading disruptions in Turkey and optimism over China's recovering demand continued to buoy sentiment. Brent crude futures rose 14 cents, or 0.2% to $85.26 a barrel by 0239 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures firmed 11 cents, or 0.2% higher, to $78.58 a barrel. The disaster had halted operations at Ceyhan and disrupted crude oil flows from Iraq and Azerbaijan. However, increasing crude inventories in the United States put pressure on oil gains.

☆ See the 10-slide presentation a hot mental-health startup used to win over Cigna Ventures and raise $34 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Blake Dodge | Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

NOCD in January raised $34 million as digital-health funding tumbles. In a brutal time to raise money from investors, the mental-health startup NOCD, which provides care for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, just raised $34 million. Cigna Ventures, the health-insurance giant's venture-capital arm, and 7wireVentures, a prominent healthtech venture-capital firm, co-led the round, bringing NOCD's total funding to $84 million. NOCD shared with Insider the presentation that helped it land $34 million from Cigna Ventures and 7wireVentures. Here's the deck NOCD used to raise $34 million from top investors.

☆ Dollar on the front foot after robust U.S. jobs data, yen falters
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The yen weakened to a three-week low of 132.60 per dollar after the report, and was last fetching 132.35, down 0.88%. Tapas Strickland, head of market economics at National Australia Bank, said Amamiya dovish policy credentials are raising uncertainty about BOJ's eventual exit from its ultra-easy monetary stance. The BOJ's loose policy settings have attracted increasing criticism from many quarters, including opposition politicians and traders, for distorting market function. But he also said in July the BOJ must "always" think about the means of exiting ultra-loose monetary policy. On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department's closely watched employment report showed that nonfarm payrolls surged by 517,000 jobs last month.

☆ Dollar plunges as Fed says disinflation now in play
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The dollar dived following Powell's remarks, and against a basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar index fell to a fresh nine-month low of 100.80. Against the Japanese yen , the dollar fell 0.55% to 128.21. With the Fed out of the way, the stage is set for the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) to announce their rate decisions later on Thursday, where expectations are for a 50bp hike from each. "I don't think that's going to influence the messaging from the ECB, which I think is still going to be that (they've) got a lot to do," Attrill said. Markets are now expecting the Fed funds rate to peak just under 4.9% by June, compared with earlier expectations of a peak of just below 5%.

☆ Jim Cramer's Investing Club meeting Wednesday: Fed meeting, AMD, Meta
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. Don't trade on Fed meeting Stick with AMD Watch Meta earnings 1. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ AMD delivers a Q4 beat amid industry headwinds, validating the Club investment case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

But the deal was ultimately necessary for AMD, as it helped it expand its data center business, boost margins, and further diversify away from PCs. Bottom line Despite facing industry-wide headwinds, including a chip glut and soft PC demand, AMD managed to outperform low expectations. Q4 segment results Data center revenues increased 42% but were a little softer than what analysts had forecasted. Sequentially, embedded revenues are expected to increase, providing some upside, while gaming and PC revenues are expected to decline, consistent with seasonality. No specific financial guidance was provided for the full year of 2023, but management expects the data center and embedded segments to grow year-over-year.

☆ Dollar cautiously firm ahead of busy central bank week
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The dollar firmed on Monday and distanced itself from an eight-month trough ahead of a slew of central bank meetings this week, including the Federal Reserve's, with traders keenly focused on guidance for the path of interest rate rises. The U.S. dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.03% to 101.92, edging away from last week's eight-month low of 101.50. Moves were subdued ahead of policy meetings from the Fed, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) later this week. "We will range trade a little bit as the market tries to assess how the central banks behave .... Elsewhere, the Aussie rose 0.11% to $0.71175, while the Japanese yen slipped marginally to 129.94 per dollar.

☆ Private equity giants are still racing to fill 2024 associate seats. See 8 firms — from Carlyle to Bain Capital — that have been recruiting first-year investment bankers for jobs that won't start for
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Last year's on-cycle recruiting kicked off earlier than ever, and many junior bankers weren't ready. In an effort to win the war for talent that was raging last year, private equity firms pushed their recruiting efforts earlier than in ever— to late summer. To be sure, not all private equity firms kicked off on-cycle recruiting in August. It usually involves an intense week-long period (although sometimes shorter or longer) where private equity firms rush in to snag the top talent. The bottom line shows the month and year analysts started their roles, and the yellow line indicated when on-cycle recruiting began that season.

☆ The private equity industry is racing to fill 2024 associate roles after last year's hyper competitive hiring tactics backfired
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

☆ The Oscars snubs of 'The Woman King' and 'Till' shows why #OscarsSoWhite is still trending in Hollywood
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"The Woman King" and "Till" got zero nominations for this year's Academy Awards. The snubs show Hollywood still undervalues Black creatives, especially Black women. The film led box-office charts when it debuted in September, and had some in Hollywood expecting the movie to nab spots for best picture, best director, or best actress. And this is the second year in a row in which no Black woman was nominated for the best actress trophy. For critics, the snubs of "The Woman King" and "Till" are proof that the Academy still doesn't give Black talent, particularly Black women, a fair chance to be recognized.

☆ Dollar stuck near nine-month low vs euro as yen bounces
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Amanda Cooper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The dollar hovered near a nine-month low against the euro and surrendered recent gains against the yen on Tuesday, as traders weighed the risks of a U.S. recession against the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy. Euro zone data on Tuesday reinforced the view that the economy is surviving a winter of intense price pressures reasonably well, analysts said. "That's integral to our bearish U.S. dollar view, that the U.S. is not going to be the global growth leader." Elsewhere, the dollar fell 0.4% to 130.18 yen , breaking a two-day rally. Last week, the dollar fell as low as 127.215 yen, its weakest since May, before a Bank of Japan policy review as investors bet the BOJ would begin to end its stimulus programme.

☆ Australian Dec business conditions moderate, cost pressures ease - survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Australian businesses conditions moderated for a third straight month in December, while price pressures began to ease, pointing to a likely peak in inflation, according to a business survey issued on Tuesday. The survey from National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) (NAB.AX) showed its index of business conditions had fallen 8 points to +12 in December, although it remained still well above its long-run average. The survey showed inflation easing across the board. The RBA's board will consider whether to raise its policy interest rate for a ninth time at its next meeting. That will still be below the forecast from the RBA for a peak inflation rate of around 8%.

☆ It's a terrible time to be a sneaker reseller
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Lois Sakany | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Adidas' messy breakup with Ye is the latest in a series of complications for sneaker resellers. Sneaker resellers have felt the effects of the end of the stimulus check and the rise of inflation. Sneaker resellers saw a bot crackdownWhile not as lucrative as Nike in the aftermarket, it was easier to buy Yeezys in bulk on Yeezy Supply using bots. The loss of Yeezy sales then combined with Nike's crackdown on bots. I'm working to expand my team to accommodate the online customer, walk-in customer, and sneaker customer," Falcon said.

The euro reached as high as $1.0927 , breaking the recent peak of $1.08875, to trade at its highest level since April last year. The single currency was aided by European Central Bank (ECB) governing council members Klaas Knot and Peter Kazimir, who both advocated for two more 50 basis point hikes at meetings in February and March. A Reuters survey of analysts also favoured hikes of 50 basis points at the next two meetings and an eventual rate peak of 3.25%, from the current rate of 2%. Investors also have around 50 basis points of U.S. rate cuts priced in for the second half of the year, reflecting softer data on inflation, consumer spending and housing. The pound rose as high as $1.24475 , its highest in seven months, before turning 0.3% lower to $1.2355.

The euro reached as high as $1.0927 , breaking the recent peak of $1.08875, to trade at its highest level since April last year. It was aided by European Central Bank (ECB) governing council member Klaas Knot, who said interest rates would rise by 50 basis points in both February and March and continue climbing in the months after. A Reuters survey of analysts also favoured a hike of 50 basis points in March and an eventual top of 3.25% from the current rate of 2%. "Layered on top of that, it looks as if the ECB are going to carry on hiking interest rates fairly aggressively," Foley added. Investors also have around 50 basis points of U.S. rate cuts priced in for the second half of the year, reflecting softer data on inflation, consumer spending and housing.

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